Inflatable travel toy



Jan. 8, 1963 A. CLARK 3,071,892

INFLATABLE TRAVEL TOY Filed April 7. 1960 IN V EN TOR.

ALEXANDER CLARK? United States Patent Office 3,071,892 Patented Jan. 8,1963 3,071,892 INFLATABLE TRAVEL TOY Alexander Clark, Hendersonville,N.C., assignor of onetenth to Gadget-Of-The-Month Club, Inc., NorthHollywood, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Apr. 7, 1960, Ser.No. 20,659 3 Claims. (Cl. 46-88) The present invention consists of aninflatable travel toy adapted for use primarily while riding in a movingvehicle, such as an automobile, or the like, by the extension of the toyout of a window into the air alongside of the vehicle and in relativemotion with respect thereto whereby to effectively inflate and hold openthe inflatable travel toy of the present invention, which, in onepreferred form, comprises a bag of flexible thin-sheet material having aforwardly open end, a rear end which is usually substantially or atleast partially closed, and an interconnecting bag side wall portion.The preferred form of the invention also includes a rigid supportingmember, usually of substantially ring-like or hoop-like shape, engagingthe forward open end of the bag for holding it open while the bag issupported exterior of the moving vehicle for relative movement throughambient atmosphere. The preferred form of the invention further includesa handle carried by the rigid supporting member, usually taking the formof a longitudinal handle lying in substantially the same plane as therigid supporting member, and adapted to be manually grasped by a childor other person playing with the inflatable travel toy of the presentinvention, while it is projected outwardly through the window of themoving vehicle into ambient atmosphere.

In a preferred form of the present invention, the rear end and/ orsidewall portion of the bag may be provided with object-depicting orsimulating means thereon which may be partly carried on the surface ofthe bag and/or which may be partly formed in the surface of the bag, andwhich may depict a portion of a face of a person, animal, or any othercreature or object, and which, in certain cases, may be reversible byturning the bag inside out, and with the reversed surface or inside ofthe bag after being turned inside out also being provided withobject-depicting or object-simulating means similar to or different fromthe object-depicting and/or object-simulating means carried by the otherand formerly outside surface of the bag.

In one preferred form, the object-depicting means may include a portiondepicting a face and an extendable hollow tongue-depicting portionelastically biased toward retracted position, but capable of beingextended as a result of rapid relative movement of the toy throughambient atmosphere.

In a preferred form, the flexible bag may be provided adjacent the rearend thereof with stabilizing aperturedefining means which, in certainforms of the invention, may include sound-producing means adapted toproduce sound in response to the passage of air therethrough.

It is anobject of the present invention to provide an inflatable traveltoy of the character referred to above,.

and in accordance with any of the several modifications referred toabove, and which is of extremely simple, cheap, foolproof constructionsuch as to be conducive to widespread use of the toy.

Further objects will be apparent to persons skilled in the art after acareful study hereof.

For the purpose of clarifying the nature of the present invention,several exemplary embodiments are illustrated in thehereinbelow-described figures of the accompanying single drawing sheetand are described in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a reduced-size perspective view showing one exemplaryembodiment of the inflatable travel toy of the present invention in' anormal use position with respect to the open Window at the right side ofa motor vehicle (which is shown fragmentarily in phantom).

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view partly in elev-ation andpartially in section taken in the direction of the arrows 22 of FIG. 1and clearly showing in detail the engagement of the exteriorly threadedmating semicylindrical portions of the rigid supporting ring member withthe outer end of the longitudinal handle.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly in elevation and partlyin section, taken in the direction of the arrows 33 of FIG. 2 andclearly showing the specific details of the fastening means forfastening the forward open end of the flexible bag to the rigidsupporting ring member.

FIG. 4 merely illustrates a left-handed version of the inflatable traveltoy having a different type of objectdepicting means thereon from theobject-depicting means carried by the first form of the invention shownin FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view generally similar to the leftend of FIG. 4 showing a further modified type of object-depicting means,in this case including sound-producing means in the mouth or tongueregion thereof.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view, partly in side elevation and partly insection, of a further modified rear end portion of the flexible bagbearing an object-depicting means somewhat similar to the form shown inFIG. 1, and wherein said object-depicting means further includes anextendable tongue-depicting portion elastically biased toward retractedposition but capable of extension as the entire device is drawn throughambient atmosphere in,

the general manner shown in FIG. 1. a

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the mouth and tongueportion of the object-depicting means shown in FIG. 6 and in theposition which it assumes when the tongue is caused to be extended by aninterior pressure head of air produced by drawing the entire devicethrough ambient atmosphere as a result of forward motion of theautomobile in the general manner shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to the figures for exemplary purposes, one illustrativeembodiment of the invention (which is not to be construed in a limitingsense) takes a typical exemplary form including a bag of flexiblethin-sheet material, generally indicated at 10, having a forward openend 11, a rear substantially closed end 12 and an interconnecting bagside wall portion 13. In the form illustrated, the bag is preferablymade of flexible airimpervious elastomeric thin-sheet material, such asrubber, or the like, although not specifically so limited. Also, in theexample illustrated, the forward open end 11 is substantially circularand the interconnecting bag side wall portion 13 is of substantiallycylindrical configuration. In the form illustrated, the rear end 12 ofthe bag is provided with object-depicting means indicated generally at14 and exteriorly comprising a shaped or formed portion depicting ahuman face, which is appropriately painted or otherwise colored orimprinted in a manner simulating hair as indicated at 15, eyes 16,eyebrows 17, month 18, and nostrils 19 carried by the formed projectingnose portion 20. In the specific form illustrated, the nostrils 19effectively comprise stabilizing aperture-defining means adapted toadmit small jets of air whereby to effectively provide a desired degreeof positioning or stabilizing force to the entire travel toy. However,it should be noted that the stabilizing aperture defining means 19 maybe eliminated or substantially modified in certain forms of theinvention.

In the form illustrated, the bag 10 is adapted to be supported, with theforward end 11 thereof held in open position, by means of a rigidsupporting member 21 which, in the form illustrated, is of ring-like orhooplike shape and which is efiectively fastened to the for ward openend 11 of the bag 10 by a circumferential hem or hem portion 22 carriedcompletely circumferentially around the forward open end 11 of the bag10 and encompassing therein the supporting member 21, which is ofhalf-round configuration or shape provided with radially outwardlyprojecting mating semi-cylindrical half-round junction portions 23,which are exteriorly threaded whereby, when joined together as bestshown in FIG. 2, they together effectively comprise an exteriorlythreaded projecting cylindrical portion adapted to be received by theinteriorly threaded receiving recess 24 carried at the outer end of thelongitudinal handle 25. This provides a very convenient arrangement formounting the bag 10 on the rigid supporting ring member 21 and forfastening same to the outer end of the handle 25. The hem 22 may beformed by folding back the forward edge of the open end 11 of the bagaround the ring portion 21 and fastening the bag to itself as best shownat 26 in FIG. 3. This may comprise adhesive fastening, cohesivefastening, mechanical fastening, or the like.

FIG. 4 illustrates a slight modification wherein the bag 10A is somounted with respect to the handle 25A, in effectively reversedrelationship with respect to the mounting of the bag 10 shown in FIG. 1relative to the handle 25, as to comprise a left-handed travel toyadapted to be extended out of a left window of a motor vehicle, or thelike. Furthermore, the object-depicting portion 14A in this versiontakes a different form to illustrate the fact that a great variety ofsuch object-depicting means may be employed.

FIG. shows a slightly modified form of object-depicting means 14Bincluding an aperture means 19B which effectively carries a soundproducing means 27 adapted to produce sound in response to the passageof air therethrough.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a further modification wherein theobject-depicting means 14C includes an extended tongue-depicting portion28 comprising a hollow elastomeric tongue 29 closed at its forward endand having an open rear end 39 connected by flexible coupling 31 to thewall of the object-depicting portion 14C whereby to effectively seal thetongue 29 with respect thereto, and with the tongue 29 beingprovidedwith elastic biasing means 32 connected thereto, as indicated at33, and connected, as indicated at 34, with respect to the interior ofthe rear end of the bag C whereby the tongue 29 is normally held in theretracted position shown in FIG. 6 but-is allowed to move into theextended position shown fragmentarily in FIG. 7 in response to movementof the entire device through ambient atmosphere in the general mannerbest illustrated in FIG. 1. Thus,

this modification provides an action travel toy wherein the tongue canbe caused to extend and/or retract in accordance with the amount of, andpressure head of,

air which is admitted into the interior of the bag 10C, which in turncan be controlled by the speed of the motor vehicle or by the operatorturning the supporting member with respect to the direction of movementof the motor vehicle.

It should be noted that numerous modifications of the invention, whereinthe object-depicting portion assumes a great variety of configurationsmay be employed. It should further be noted that the inside of any ofthe object-depicting means may also comprise an independentobject-depicting means, thus making it possible to turn the bag insideout and convert a right-handed travel toy into a left-handed travel toy,or vice versa.

It should be understood that the figures and the specific descriptionthereof set forth in this application are for the purpose ofillustrating the present invention and are not to be construed aslimiting the present invention to the precise and detailed specificstructure shown in the figures and specifically described hereinbefore.Rather, the real invention is intended to include substantiallyequivalent constructions embodying the basic teachings and inventiveconcept of the present invention.

I claim:

1. An inflatable travel toy, comprising: a bag of flexible thin-sheetmaterial having a forward open end, a rear end, and an interconnectingbag side wall portion; a rigid supporting member, the forward open endof the bag being provided with fastening means fastening said Open endto said supporting member, the bag being provided with object-depictingmeans thereon including a portion depicting a face and an extendablehollow tongue-depicting portion elastically biased toward a retractedposition and having a hollow interior in pneumatic communication withthe interior of the bag whereby to be extended in response to apneumatic pressure increase communicated to the hollow interior of saidtongue-depicting portion from the interior of said bag; and a handlecarrying said supporting member.

2. A toy of the character defined in claim 1, wherein theobject-depicting means has a small centrally positioned portion thereofdefining a small centrally positioned stabilizing aperture-definingmeans.

3. A toy of the character defined in claim 2, wherein said stabilizingaperture-defining means includes auxiliary sound-producing meanspositioned across-and at least partially closing said stabilizingaperture-defining means and altering-the passage of air therethroughwhereby to produce a desired type of audible sound in response to thealtered passage of air therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS439,514 Huff Oct. 28, 1890 1,401,626 Mader Dec. 27, 1921 1,415,511Bausch May 9, 1922 2,071,225 Buttigieg Feb. 16, 1937 2,090,121 HayesAug. 17, 1937 2,467,374 Findlater Apr. 19, 1949 2,492,371 Sivian Dec.27, 1949

1. AN INFLATABLE TRAVEL TOY, COMPRISING: A BAG OF FLEXIBLE THIN-SHEETMATERIAL HAVING A FORWARD OPEN END, A REAR END, AND AN INTERCONNECTINGBAG SIDE WALL PORTION; A RIGID SUPPORTING MEMBER, THE FORWARD OPEN ENDOF THE BAG BEING PROVIDED WITH FASTENING MEANS FASTENING SAID OPEN ENDTO SAID SUPPORTING MEMBER, THE BAG BEING PROVIDED WITH OBJECT-DEPICTINGMEANS THEREON INCLUDING A PORTION DEPICTING A FACE AND AN EXTENDABLEHOLLOW TONGUE-DEPICTING PORTION ELASTICALLY BIASED TOWARD A RETRACTEDPOSITION AND HAVING A HOLLOW INTERIOR IN PNEUMATIC COMMUNICATION WITHTHE INTERIOR OF THE BAG WHEREBY TO BE EXTENDED IN RESPONSE TO APNEUMATIC PRESSURE INCREASE COMMUNICATED TO THE HOLLOW INTERIOR OF SAIDTONGUE-DEPICTING PORTION FROM THE INTERIOR OF SAID BAGS; AND A HANDLECARRYING SAID SUPPORTING MEMBER.